Daily commute getting you down? Parking a nightmare? Work-life balance an issue? Profits down? Costs up? No space for expansion?
Whether an employer or an employee, the pressures on working life have increased dramatically in the past few years. Overcrowding on our roads and rail network, the cost of commercial offices, the demands on individuals to perform - all of these impact on the work-life balance of individuals.
Coventry University is pleased to announce the establishment of a new Centre in support of organisational change and effectiveness. Based in the University's Technology Park, the Centre for Applied Research in eWorking brings together a technology base and expertise that enable organisations to adopt new IT-enabled working practices for improving business performance.
In today's competitive environment organisations face tough challenges, whether through pressure to cut costs, to deliver higher levels of service, or to improve the returns for investors or taxpayers. At the same time employees are faced with a deteriorating work-life balance as their commuting time becomes longer and more crowded, their working hours excessive, and the pressure to perform more acute.
In this environment, flexible working is seen by some as a soft response - designed to ease the burden on employees struggling to combine their parenting and elderly care responsibilities with the demands of a full-time job; and, indeed, when managed well it can very adequately ease this burden. But, far from being a soft option, flexible working has many benefits for the employer, too, providing it is introduced thoughtfully and supported by the right technologies and adequate coaching.
The Centre for Applied Research in eWorking has been established to help both public and private sector organisations to develop and implement new, ICT enabled working practices that significantly improve the overall performance of the organisation whilst enabling employees to benefit from a more flexible working environment.